PA PA - Marjorie West, 4, McKean County, 8 May 1938

[momtolil]

Very bogus. If Marjorie were found, it would be big news. Somehow no one else knows but this guy? No news stories? And the woman isn't interested in meeting her family? I don't buy it. This guy is a creep for lying IMO.

Is this story still in print or available online?? Though I agree that it is most likely not true, i'd still love to read it.
Does this author answer any questions like: Where has she been all this time and who took her?

This is silly to say at this point but, maybe he knows the perpatrators or is connected in some way and is trying to throw off any search that would still remain after all of these years?

 

[catrackgraphics]

Marjorie is now listed with NAMUS and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A police report was filed for her last June so that CMEC could open a case and give her a caseworker.

Marjorie is my first cousin once removed. The week before her abduction, she had been at my mother's birthday party (her first cousin). I hope with her now formally listed with a reputable agency that we can find closure for the family. Mom and I have both spoke with the state troopers and CMEC.

 

[amber1]

catrackgraphics , thank you for keeping her case alive!
I also fins this book hard to believe, although I do wish for her to be alive. Reminds me of the Johnny Gosch scenario, where his mother claims she saw her son decades after he went missing, saying he would endanger her and couldn't come home due to am illegal ring. We can't rule out the theory.

 

[Snackcakes66]

Catrackgraphics, have the troopers or CMEC been able to say if they've spoke to Mr. Beck?

I would hope if this guy claimed to have information any leads would be followed or ruled out.

 

[Robin Hood]

Does this help to find the publishing company and Mr Beck
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mount...ion/191903554173726?v=info#info_edit_sections

Mountain Laurel Publishing CorporationLikeMedia/News/Publishing · Custer City, Pennsylvania.
.Founded 1993
Location P.O. Box 28, Custer City, PA 16725
Description The Mountain Laurel Review began publishing on July 28, 1993 with its August issue. Publisher Harold T. Beck, long fascinated with the history of northwestern Pennsylvania, began writing historical pieces for various local publications. When he wrote the first two chapters of Cornplanter Chronicles, his wife, Sharyn, saw the potential and insisted he no longer give away his work It was at dinner on the evening of June 14, 1993 she told him that he would either sell the story to a publisher or develop his own publication where his writing could be featured. During the weeks that followed, Sharyn, Harold and John Gates developed the concept that became The Mountain Laurel Review.
Mission To encourage and support first time authors on their journey to see their work published and marketed. Mountain Laurel Publishing Corporation offers personalized service ranging from book editing, book layout, cover design, printing process and marketing. See your dream come true today!
Products Complete personalized author services, self publishing, professional marketing and printing.
Email bud@mountainlaurelreview.com
Website http://www.mountainlaurelpublishing.com/...

Likes and interests
.Likes Mountain Laurel Publishing Corporation
..

 

[catrackgraphics]

@snackcakes66 - I don't know if the troopers have talked to Mr. Beck or not. The trooper that I talked to seemed to think there was more publicity ploy than substance to what Mr. Beck claimed to know. I don't believe anyone in the family has purchased or read the book.

Marjorie is now officially listed with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. (www.missingkids.com) She has a case worker and her file is open. What I learned over the past year or so was that the family (me or someone related) had to request that the case be made active. This took a bit of time to do and several steps but is now complete. She now has a poster and will eventually have a DNA file and age progression picture.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

Bumping for Marjorie

 

[amber1]

Happy Easter to Marjorie, and the others who are missing. Cases like hers, Beverly Potts, Connie Smith are all ones I fear are for the books, but I still never stop thinking of them!

 

[EmiLove832]

I am a first time poster and find these old cold cases/missing people cases fascinating.

After reading through the Marjorie West threads I was curious if anyone had posted about Harold Beck's book "Finding Marjorie West". I found a blog posting in which a lady read and reviewed the book. Her critique of the book is quite funny but agrees with suspicions that Harold did not find Marjorie.

Here is a snippet from the blog posting:
"Late in our (and his) interaction with a character, when we've established her background, reputation, personality, friends, and family, Beck relays a conversation in which she offers to tell him everything he wants to know with the stipulation that he cannot reveal publicly what he knows until after she's dead, and, more importantly to us the readers, he cannot "ever directly identify her or any member of her family, or tell the story in such a way that they could be identified." (pg 245) Given that fact, we can't help but wonder what facts about the character were false and which were true."

http://alivemagdolene.livejournal.com/393382.html

 

[PFF]

related links
PA Marjorie West (4) - McKean County PA, 1938 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[quinnc77]

I live about 20 mins from this area and it is still one out the most rugged around. snakes, bears, big drops off cliffs, abandoned wells, and back then Seneca Indians. this area is no place for a small girl alone. in 1938 this was probably very remote you could walk the wrong way for a day or two now let alone then. there are also alot of caves in this area. this is also the recent sighting of the" kinzua kritter" a strange Bigfoot like creature caught on a trail camera. people get lost arnd here every few hunting seasons . in 1964 the army Corp of engineers flooded the mighty kinzua river with the kinzua dam wich is in walking distance of this area to regulate water flow to Pittsburgh. the Indians were on a reservation until they moved them to Salamanca, N.Y. so if you look at the map the lake want there but a big river would have been which would h ave been extremely dangerous. alot of work has been done around here maybe they will come across her .
because of the remote location I doubt the connection to the baby ring.

 

[kimmy88]

Remote location...speed of supposed abduction...vehicle not spotted at the scene...it absolutely screams 'person(s) who knew the family/were familiar with the family and who followed them there that day' to me.

The only thing that gets me is the 2 vehicles that were spotted going past where Marjorie went missing in the relevant time frame were both ruled out. Was one of these wrongly ruled out? Or did a third vehicle manage to go past unnoticed? Or, is it even possible a vehicle was parked just out of sight of any witnesses and that someone (after leaving the vehicle) was on foot and lurking in the wooded area nearby, somewhere close to the boulder the girls were picking flowers at or even across the road, and when Dorothea left Marjorie to go back to talk to her mother, that was the perfect time to jump in and snatch little Marjorie. If the person was known to Marjorie or she was at least familiar with them maybe he/she fed her a story and she believed it and went off with them when they told her to (e.g. lets go and surpise Mom with those lovely flowers you've picked, come this way etc) or maybe said person carried Marjorie with their hand over her mouth to stop her making any noise, or even said person could have had chloroform to make the abduction even easier for them. Sorry to be thinking so morbidly. I'm just trying to think logically how the 'abduction' could have happened without anyone hearing or seeing anything.

Whatever happened I must say once again I absolutely believe the family were followed there that day by person(s) who knew they had the children with them and who then just waited until the chance to abduct came up. JMO.

Such a heartbreaking case and I'm so sorry that Marjorie's sister Dorothea passed away before she was able to find out what happened to the little sister she never stopped searching for, so so sad.

 

[amber1]

Bumping for Marjorie. Thanks for your post kimmy88

 

[liljim]

this case randomly popped up on reddit today, just linking for reference;

edit - hmmmm reddit links arent allowed here? would love to hear that story...

anyway, have to find it for yourself i guess.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

One of those "click-bait" articles, but at least it's about something worthwhile.

9 real-life horror stories of people who disappeared and were never found
[h=3]8) Marjorie West (Pennsylvania, 1938)[/h] The West family went out after church for an outing in the country, one that involved Marjorie, 4, and her 11-year-old sister going to pick wildflowers. The sister went to talk to their parents, and Marjorie disappeared from the middle of a wide-open field. This might seem like a standard issue kidnapping story but for the fact that Marjorie's life might well have intersected with Georgia Tann, the woman who ran the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Praised for her ability to find homes for children who needed them, Tann actually abducted over 1,200 children and then placed them with rich families in far-off states like California — often for a hefty fee. If Marjorie did, indeed, somehow meet Tann or someone who worked with her, she could be alive today and unaware of her true identity.


http://www.vox.com/2014/10/31/7135439/real-life-horror-stories-disappearances

 

[Find Brenda]

Here is an article published this morning about Marjorie West’s disappearance, which was 80 years ago today. It was written by the amazing Caren Lissner, an author and editor, who is known for her work Carrie Pilby, which was the inspiration for a movie by the same title.


http://narrative.ly/the-great-unsolved-mystery-of-missing-marjorie-west/

 

[Memo30]

Here is an article published this morning about Marjorie West’s disappearance, which was 80 years ago today. It was written by the amazing Caren Lissner, an author and editor, who is known for her work Carrie Pilby, which was the inspiration for a movie by the same title.


http://narrative.ly/the-great-unsolved-mystery-of-missing-marjorie-west/

A terrific and thorough telling, not to be missed.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

This is a sad story, however, it's pretty obvious what happened. Children alone in the wilderness don't have much of a chance. I think she wandered off and died.

 

[Find Brenda]

This is a sad story, however, it's pretty obvious what happened. Children alone in the wilderness don't have much of a chance. I think she wandered off and died.

If that is what happened, she must have wandered off to a place where thousands of people and search dogs could not find her.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

If that is what happened, she must have wandered off to a place where thousands of people and search dogs could not find her.

That is the definition of WILDERNESS. As someone who has done quite a bit of camping and exploring the wilderness, I can assure you someone can disappear within minutes, never to be seen again.